


Monologue

by ibreathethroughwords



Series: A Man With a Beard [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Can be taken as pre-slash for Kalluzeb, Cumplay, Episode: s03e17 Through Imperial Eyes, Feelings, Lyste joins the Alliance, M/M, No Condom, No Lube, Oral Sex, Post-Episode: s03e21-22 Zero Hour, Rimming, Semi-Public Sex, blowjob, unprotected sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 11:15:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11057802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibreathethroughwords/pseuds/ibreathethroughwords
Summary: "Why me, Kallus?" Lyste turned, the hurt on his face so visible. Kallus flinched a little at it. "I trusted you.""You trusted me," he acknowledged quietly, making steady eye contact. "You trusted me, and you were the only person there. You were the only other officer there, stationed on Lothal at the same time as the other incidents, and if I didn't do it more people were going to be hurt."Sequel toThe Power is Mine. You should read that one first.





	Monologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tauntaun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tauntaun/gifts).



>  
> 
> _On the edge of an answer you way lust_  
>  _Beginnings are made_  
>  _Lover, forgive me, my guilt is my only crime_  
>  _And I'll carry it round till it breaks me down every time_
> 
>  
> 
>    
> "Monologue" -She Wants Revenge
> 
> This is [tauntaun's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tauntaun) entire fucking fault. I'm going to try to work on [Waltz](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10767645) chapter 5 now before I can be talked into a follow up to this. 

When the _Ghost_ was on Yavin IV and not off causing an inordinate amount of trouble for the Empire or its own crew, one of Kallus's main duties was getting any new Imperials that had joined the Yavin base oriented to life as a rebel. The Alliance recognized that it had been a major culture shock for him: two decades of rules and order were difficult to leave behind. While Kallus could shuck his Imperial bearing when he needed to in order to blend in thanks to all of his training as an ISB agent and several successful undercover and deep cover missions under his belt, most of their new recruits could not.

Someone who knew what they were going through needed to get them through the transitional phase, and Kallus had been chosen.

It hadn't been a complaint, exactly, but he'd still had to ask _why him_. He wasn't the only Imperial to make the transition successfully. Hera had been the one to inform him of his new duties and she'd expected the question, much to his consternation. This family he had pursued and hurt for so long, this family that had more or less adopted him (Zeb had tried to explain, but had confused him, so Ezra had explained, and confused him more, so he'd gotten Rex to explain, and then given up), had learned to read him as quickly as he'd learned to read them.

For convenience's sake and in the heat of battle that was a good thing, but it made hiding bothersome emotions and things he didn't want to deal with or involve them in nigh impossible. They were nosy and didn't hesitate to shove themselves into his business to help him if they knew they could.

The speed with which he'd grown fond of them alarmed Kallus.

Hera had known he would be concerned, and she'd known he would ask, and so she had come prepared with a _kriffing list_ that outlined the steps of the decision making process because they all knew order and reason comforted him. Sure, it made him feel better to know every other ex-imp had suggested he would be the best for the job as he was familiar with literally every position in the Empire and how those skills could fit into the Alliance. It surprised him that people thought he had a heart of gold, that the younger rebels looked up to him, or that some of them saw him as a paternal figure. Kallus found it embarrassing enough to darken his perpetual sunburn a couple of shades, and couldn't shake of the feeling that he was strangely touched by it.

It was also an order straight from High Command, and since the _Ghost_ wasn't going anywhere for a couple weeks besides escorting the refugees in from the edge of the system, Kallus would be meeting with high command, their current quartermaster, and AP-5 today, and tomorrow would be getting the latest group settled in. He could pick one or two people - anyone he wanted - to help get the new group acclimated to the rules and somewhat comfortable. Two familiar faces came to mind immediately, so Kallus thanked her and set off to find them. Going into his meetings with some things in mind would make things run somewhat more smoothly and give him more time to prepare.  
\---

Reveille came far too early the next morning, as it always did now that Kallus had gotten a taste for sleeping in when he could: Zeb and Ezra had been a bad influence on his sleeping habits. Hera often left the ramp down on the _Ghost_ at night, and so the sound of it trickled into the ship along with the humidity of the jungle moon. The bulkheads did next to nothing to dampen noise or drive out the moisture, and he shoved his head under his pillow with a groan. Below him the steady sound of Zeb's snoring was interrupted as the lasat let out a complaining grumble and kicked off his blankets.

Damnit. Kallus couldn't sleep without Zeb's snoring, though he'd never admit to it. If he was getting up, Kallus might as well pry himself out of bed as well. "Go back to sleep, Zeb," he half-begged from under his pillow.

"Can't," he grumbled back. "I'm going with Hera and Ezra to escort those refugees in."

Kallus huffed, but pulled his head out from under the pillow to look at Zeb when he leaned against the bunk. "What if instead you didn't do that and went back to sleep?" he mumbled, shifting closer in his blanket cocoon to the warmth of his friend. It might have been a jungle moon but it still got cold at night. 

One of those big warm hands brushed over his hair and Kallus closed his eyes again. Touch-starved. He was still absolutely touch-starved, though he'd die before admitting to it. Accepted into the family he may have been, but Zeb was the only one who ever really touched him, and only ever in the privacy of their quarters. The hand pulled away. 

"Don't you have to get ready to deal with them too?" Zeb reminded as he plunked back down on his bunk. Kallus could hear him fumbling for the brush he used on his fur: it did a better job somedays than 'fresher did in dealing with the lasat smell. 

Right. That. A soft sighed escaped him at the reminder. He freed himself from the blankets and rolled himself out of the bed. The ladder was useless thanks to his height: he wasn't a tiny thing like Ezra. Kallus sat down next to Zeb and motioned for the brush: of all the things that made up their morning ritual, this was his favorite. Brushing the fur on Zeb's back was something the lasat could do for himself, but it was difficult and he seemed to soak up the attention. While neither of them were the type of man to actively ask or seek out touch, both could read the other well enough to know when it was needed. Kallus had done this for him during one of those times and it had become a routine.

Usually he took his time about it. Today he had to be efficient. Zeb grumbled, and Kallus rested a hand on his shoulder as he stood to get himself dressed. At least the nights here were cool, and he didn't need a second shower after last night's. "Sorry. Like you said, I do have to prepare to handle the refugees you're bringing me."

It was a shame they had no daily ritual that involved Zeb's hands on him, Kallus thought as he dressed. They were quite big and warm: really very comforting. _Nothing to do for it, really_ , he reminded himself. Humans needed a lot less in the way of grooming. All Kallus had to do was put gel on his hands and run them through his hair a couple of times to slick it back into order. Seeing his hair back in a regulation style like that would be comforting for a group of people who were likely about to get the worst culture shock of their lives. Beard maintenance was easy as well; he oiled it quickly, and decided that tonight or tomorrow he'd give it a quick trim. Maybe ask Sabine to trim his hair again too, since Ezra's was getting shaved again after the evening meal. The ends seemed to be in danger of curling, and that was not a secret he was ready to share with his new family yet.

"Safe skies, Zeb. Don't do anything Ezra would do," he joked, turning to leave. He glanced back at Zeb to find him staring, slack-jawed. "What?"

Zeb took a good ten seconds to rally his jaw and get his tongue and vocal chords back in line. "That's a damn good look on you." Kallus raised an eyebrow and waited. Nothing he had done was new to the lasat. "That combination. You've never slicked your hair back with the beard. It's good. On you, anyway."

Kallus felt his cheeks flush a little at the rarely given compliment. "Oh. I see. Thank you, Zeb." He glanced down at the deck to gather himself before looking back up. "See you tonight."

"Yeah, mate," Zeb replied, still looking absolutely stunned. "Tonight."

Leaving his friend half-naked and in shock on the bunk, Kallus made his way off the ship and to the mess hall. He received more offers for sex between leaving the _Ghost_ and waiting for the new recruits than he'd gotten in the last five years of his life. Even Rex was looking him over appreciatively while they waited in the smaller of the briefing rooms.

"Would you stop that?" Kallus requested, unable to keep the exasperation out of his voice. 

Wedge chuckled, earning a mild glare for himself. The young man had been looking as well, though nowhere near as obviously as Rex was guilty of doing. "I'm old, not dead," the clone countered. "Keep doing that with your hair and you'll be the most sought-after person on the base."

"So I gathered," Kallus mumbled. Not that he'd been keeping count or anything, but roughly thirty beings had propositioned him or attempted to touch him inappropriately so far. A few of the offers had been tempting enough that he'd said he would consider them, but most of them were not. Two of them were offers he would definitely follow up on, one of them tomorrow.

"Here they come," Wedge said, breaking Kallus out of his thoughts. 

He straightened as Sabine, Hera, and Zeb brought them in, one hand reflexively resting on his blaster. They were quiet, subdued: most of them looked terrified. Many were very young this time, and all of them were still in uniform. Among them, he counted seventeen pilots, eight stormtroopers, two low-ranking ISB agents that he'd trained himself about three and seven years back - one from Internal Affairs and one from Investigations, and nine officers of the line. A scan of their rank bars determined them to all be lower ranks: no one above a captain. 

His eyes stopped and drifted back across their faces. Lyste. Yogar Lyste was in that group. Their eyes met, and they looked at each other startled, and then the younger man's eyes narrowed in anger. Kallus shook his head, once. _Not here. Not right now._ They were going to have to talk about what had happened between them, that much was obvious, but in front of a roomful of people who could destroy his command authority and reputation? No way in Corellia's Nine Hells was that going to happen.

He gestured with his head for their escort to join him outside for a moment. They might not know of Kallus's entire history, but they knew of the final incident with the man. Sabine volunteered to sit next to Lyste and keep him quiet. Debriefing was being set up for the lot of them, but now that they knew there were ISB agents present, changes had to be made to that schedule as well. Hera went to handle that, and Zeb volunteered to stand at the door and be intimidating.

It went better than he was expecting, and better than he'd hoped. There were a lot of things they would have to adjust to, and he couldn't tell them to forget their training, as his own had been an asset to him here. Most of them knew who he was - warrants had been out for his arrest for weeks now, and a pleasantly high bounty for a month - and many of them respected him. They all listened. Explaining the differences in rules that he and Wedge had found hard to deal with generated the most dropped jaws, but it was the best way to get them to ask questions. Letting Rex answer them and play the part of the sweet old grandfather to them drew them out, got them talking.

The session dragged on longer than he'd anticipated, but Kallus was able to get them through it, let them know what to expect next - an escort until after debriefing, commissioning, then assignment - and get them fed, and off to AP-5 and the quartermaster. He waited at the end of the corridor as they were all assigned to double rooms. After this, he was going to have to pull Lyste aside. Rumors had been circulating through Intelligence about another weird mission out near Mandalore leaving within the next week once they heard back from the Fulcrum agents stationed in that system. If it had to do with Mandalore, that meant Sabine Wren, and Fenn Rau and his people would argue to take it, and those two were more stubborn than anybody Kallus had ever met. Inevitably, the _Ghost_ would end up going, which meant Kallus would be going.

This conversation had to happen tonight.

He spent the half-hour waiting for Lyste speaking to the two former ISB agents about what to expect from their debriefing as theirs would be comparatively brutal. Lyste seemed to be dragging his feet on using the 'fresher and changing out of his old uniform. Kallus couldn't blame him. A pile of rocks had clearly taken up residence in his own stomach: this was a conversation he hadn't ever thought he'd have to have. He dismissed Lyste's escort, letting the young security officer quietly know he'd comm him when Kallus was done apologizing profusely and if he ever told anybody what Kallus had said no one would ever find his body.

The man turned gray, saluted, and fled. 

Lyste opened his mouth, and Kallus shook his head. "No, not here, Lyste. My words are for you alone. Follow me."

Silently glowering at him, Lyste walked at his side clad in gray pants and a blue shirt that was slightly too loose on him. Kallus had spent a good deal of time exploring the temple during bouts of insomnia over the last several weeks and had found many good hiding spots. He led Lyste to one of them: a small room in which the Alliance had stuffed extra sleep mats. It had a closing door, but several small windows that let in extra air. The room itself was high up, rarely accessed, and they wouldn't be overheard.

"You were Fulcrum," the younger man said quietly once the door clicked behind him. He'd figured it out. Lyste had his back to Kallus, hands in tight fists at his sides. Tension was obvious in the set of his shoulders, his neck. 

"The bounty hunter was Ezra Bridger," Kallus explained. "He'd been sent to be captured by your light cruiser because the grand admiral was on to me. It was supposed to be a simple extraction mission: I didn't know anything about it until I was questioning him."

Lyste shook his head. "Then the Seventh Fleet showed up and I had him transferred."

The older man sighed, very much feeling all thirty-seven of his years right now. "You and the stormtroopers might have been fooled by a growth spurt and a haircut - none of you ran into them half as often as I did - but Thrawn and Yularen? They would have recognized him. I didn't report Ezra's capture immediately, nor did I immediately arrange for him to be transferred to the _Chimaera_ under that name. I didn't share his identity with anybody else. Should he have been recognized aboard that ship, he and I both would have been arrested and the inbound retrieval team along with us."

"Why me, Kallus?" Lyste turned, the hurt on his face so visible. Kallus flinched a little at it. "I trusted you."

"You trusted me," he acknowledged quietly, making steady eye contact. "You trusted me, and you were the only person there. You were the only other officer there, stationed on Lothal at the same time as the other incidents, and if I didn't do it more people were going to be hurt."

Lyste glared at him. "Thrawn had me isolated in the brig for weeks."

Kallus frowned. "He didn't interrogate you?"

"Ah - no." Lyste frowned at him. "I was questioned by Colonel Yularen and moved to one of the cells they use for political prisoners."

He hadn't fooled them at all. It had been for nothing. "I see," he said quietly. Guilt hit him, and he pushed it aside. That could be dealt with later over a bottle of wine. "Lyste, why are you here now?"

"Because they didn't interrogate me. They had vacuum-tight evidence against me and didn't move forward with the case. When I was released it was with an apology, a promotion, and a position on the _Chimaera's_ bridge crew." Lyste looked angry, but not entirely at Kallus. "I was hurt by what you did, and confused, but then one of the older officers told me what had happened at Atollon. I heard what Thrawn did to you for your betrayal, and I did some thinking of my own. I can't serve under an officer that blows up a man to make a point, or beats a man and makes him watch his friends die after tricking him into leading him there.

"I didn't sign up for that, or what they did to me, or a thousand other things I saw after I graduated."

Kallus risked taking a step forward and resting a hand on Lyste's shoulder. They studied each other for a moment, both weary, both changed from the last time they found themselves alone. This time it was the ex-agent who made the first move. He bent his head, and Lyste met him halfway to brush their lips together. It was tentative and careful, nothing at all like any of the hungry kisses they had exchanged on Coruscant. Right now they were testing the waters, so to speak, seeing if there was another way to work out the tension and pain between them. 

After a moment, Kallus drew back a little and was surprised to find he couldn't go far. Two hands had a firm grip on the lapels of his uniform jacket. Lyste had a fiercely determined look on his face, and he tugged Kallus back down for a kiss that had a lot more passion in it. 

Permission to work this out physically all but granted, Kallus wrapped his arms around Lyste, and drew him close. "Back of the room," he panted when Lyste let him breathe again. The younger man drew him into another brief kiss, then relented and let Kallus maneuver them to a dark, quiet corner where no one would see them if someone did come in. There was a small stack of mats on the floor, and he sat on them, resting his back against the wall. Lyste didn't hesitate to climb into his lap and go straight back to kissing him desperately. 

Kallus's hands slid under his shirt, eager for skin contact. A tiny whimper spilled from Lyste's mouth into his as he thumbed over the younger man's nipples, and that was that: the shirt had to come off. The foot of the mat was as good a place as any to cast the shirt and his uniform jacket. Lyste tugged at the brown t-shirt of his uniform and Kallus pulled that off as well before giving up on removing items so he could surrender to the pleasure of once again tasting Lyste's skin.

Like on Coruscant, he was a pale-skinned beauty: the dimness of the room couldn't hide it. Kallus lapped at the salty sweat forming on his skin and murmured praises as Lyste's hands explored and got him more worked up. The smaller man really seemed to love the feeling of Kallus's beard on his neck, so Kallus paid extra attention to him there. He licked and nibbled over Lyste's jawline and the five o'clock shadow, then down over his jugular vein and up to his earlobe to bite and suck at it. 

It was still so easy to get Lyste worked up. Every whimper and tiny moan into his ear was like music to Kallus. By the time his hands drifting down to Lyste's trousers to grab his ass with both hands and pull him forward to grind against him, the man was shaking and scratching Kallus's back. "What do you want?" he inquired.

"I want you to open me up with your tongue again," Lyste murmured, throwing his head back as he rolled his hips forward. "I want to sit on your face and suck your cock and let you fuck me good and hard."

That was the best idea Kallus had heard in months. He could certainly go for that: he definitely couldn't hold in the long, low moan Lyste's words triggered. "Take your kriffing trousers off and get on my face right this instant," he ordered breathlessly.

Lyste obeyed, getting quickly to his feet to finish undressing while Kallus slid down the bed to lie on his back. Kallus took his hand, guiding Lyste back onto him. The brunet seemed awfully fond of being able to reciprocate with oral, and Kallus was perfectly fine with that. He wasn't fully hard yet, though Lyste was.

While the other man worked his pants open, Kallus focused on working Lyste open. A series of light little licks over his entrance were greeted with an enthusiastic moan and the hands at his gun belt losing track of what they were doing, so Kallus stuck to that for a little while. When he heard Lyste begin panting he used his hands to spread him further open and lick into him a little bit. There was a soft whimper, then a cool breeze on his hardening cock. Kallus gasped in a breathe as Lyste took the tip into his mouth and sucked, swirled the tongue around the head, and dipped it into the slit.

Two could play the game of teasing. Kallus flattened his tongue and licked light, long stripes from Lyste's balls up to his entrance. He kept them slow, teased until he felt his cock pop out of the younger man's mouth, and then pressed his thumb to the perineum instead. Lyste spit into his hand, wrapped it around the base of Kallus's cock to stroke, and took Kallus back into his mouth as far as he could, working him to full hardness.

Kallus speared his tongue, and pushed it into Lyste. The young man relaxed around him quicker than Kallus expected. A pool of pre-cum drizzled from Lyste's cock onto his abs, giving him an idea. Letting go of his ass with one hand, Kallus slid it through the pool of fluid there, then over the moisture gathered at the tip. It eased the way for one finger, then a second finger, since Lyste was already quite relaxed. The resulting moan around his cock made Kallus shiver, and he slid his tongue between his fingers. Eventually he realized that Lyste had stopped sucking him off and was panting and shaking above him.

"Are you okay?" Kallus asked him, beard brushing over his skin.

"Your beard feels so damn good," he panted.

Chuckling Kallus went back to working him open, pulling his fingers back out occasionally to add more pre-cum to his fingers. "Do you have any idea how good you taste like this?" he said, giving his tongue a break as he worked a third finger in. "Perhaps I should lick you clean after I finish."

Lyste froze at his suggestion and shivered. " - In me."

"Hmm?" Kallus curled his fingers and rubbed them over Lyste's prostate. The younger man cried out and turned to look at him.

"I need you in me _now_ ," Lyste growled at him with barely restrained patience. "Fuck me, use me, cum inside me."

Kallus caught on, and smirked at him. "And then lick you clean until you finish?" Lyste nodded, want written all over his face, as he fucked back on the fingers inside him.

"Please, Kallus."

"Don't you think you should move then?" he suggested lowly, sliding his fingers out of Lyste again.

Lyste got to his feet, legs trembling, so Kallus could sit up. He manuevered Lyste into lying on his back, then grabbed the other man's shirt and trousers, balled them up, and slid them under his lower back to prop up his ass. His own trousers he shoved down to his knees, out of the way, and removed his blaster, setting it on his jacket where it wouldn’t be in the way. The only lube they had was what their own bodies made: fortunately, Kallus had always produced quite a bit of pre-cum. A few strokes with his own hand smoothed it over the shaft and he was ready.

"Put the bottom of your feet up against my shoulders, and let me know if it gets to be too much," Kallus instructed, pressing the head of cock against the loose muscle Lyste's hole. This would have to be a quick fuck, and he wanted to be deep for it. Once Lyste had obeyed, Kallus gripped his ankles and pressed forward. 

It felt better than he remembered, without a condom in the way, and he'd done a hell of a job getting Lyste relaxed for him. Lyste took him with no trouble, like he had before, and swore enough to do Zeb proud. Kallus raised an eyebrow. Really, he had no idea the man even knew half those words. 

He rested his hands on Lyste's pale legs, stroked over them to soothe. "Everything okay?"

"Never had anyone go that deep," he breathed, eyes closed. No moving for another moment or two then. Kallus places gentle kisses on his ankles and caressed his legs instead and waited patiently. Around his cock he could feel Lyste's muscles clenching and loosening, and after a moment or two, he opened his eyes and nodded. "I'm fine. Really, Kallus, you can move."

Lyste would know better than him; obligingly, Kallus set a slow pace, moving only a few centimeters either direction at first. It was so damned good. Lyste watched him through lidded eyes, gasping softly, trying hard to not cry out. Kallus picked up the pace and depth of his movements gradually, spurred on the dirty things Lyste had started murmuring to him. At some point he moved so the man could lower his legs and wrap them around Kallus's hips instead, let Lyste's hands slide over his back while they panted into each other's ears. 

"Harder," he whined between nipping at the older man's ear. Kallus had him near enough to begging now that he was happy to oblige. He was chasing his own orgasm, driven forward by the arrangement they'd agreed upon before he'd ordered Lyste off of him so he could properly fuck the man. "Been dying to be used by your cock for months, Kallus. You could ruin a man with that thing."

It got a growl out of him. "Is that what this is? Ruining you?" He punctuated his question with a sharp snap of his hips. "Certainly left you wrecked last time, didn't I? How many days was it until you could stop limping? Did anybody buy your mugging story on Coruscant? I bet they were wondering who got their cock up your ass."

Lyste huffed out a sound that might have been a laugh or a moan. Kallus honestly didn't give a damn. He was so kriffing close now. Any second now he was going to have to pull back. "I don’t know. All I could think about was that night for ages: I didn't care what they thought. Any time I had my hand on my cock I was thinking about yours."

Oh hell, that did it. Kallus groaned and pulled out. Lyste moaned, but stopped to watch as Kallus took himself in hand. It wasn't what they had agreed upon, but he jerked himself to completion, coming in stripes across Lyste's chest and stomach, over his cock. As soon as he was spent, he lowered himself and devoted his mouth to cleaning Lyste.

"Kallus - "

"I want to taste us together," he panted. He didn't have an explanation for it, aside from that it was what he wanted. "Cum for me, Lyste, let me taste you." 

That was enough for the younger man. Kallus mouth licked the stripe of his own cum off of his cock and closed over the tip, and Lyste came with a cry of his name, spilling into his mouth. Kallus sucked him through his orgasm, swallowing all of it, and then pulled himself back to rub the rest into the man's skin. They rested together for a while, talking, until Kallus's comlink went off. 

He spouted some bullshit about where he was to Ezra as they redressed, called Lyste's escort when they hit a reasonable floor, and walked Lyste back to his room with a promise to visit later. He hung around and spoke with Lyste's roommate's escort until the other man relieved him, and headed back to the _Ghost_ with a spring in his step and a weight off his shoulders he hadn't known was there in the first place.


End file.
